I am new to this community, so if I am posting inappropriately or asking something stupid--please pardon me.

I have been trying to write this post for a few days now and I still am not clear exactly what I am looking for--so let me prattle for a bit.

When I was in middle and high school, I had a big bunch of friends who used to role play. We played D&D and Rolemaster. I was particularly fond of the Middle Earth roleplaying system that we adapted.

Every weekend, for many years, a horde of us would descend upon somebody's basement and play for hours. And for those many hours, I felt as if I was in Middle Earth. Further, for a short while, my stupid teenage cares and worries fell from my soul.

Okay...so now middle age is rapidly overtaking me and I still yearn to be in Middle Earth. All of my old gang has gone to the four winds and there is no hope of reuniting them.

I suppose what I am looking for is getting that feeling back again. I have looked into those on-line games where you have a character and you fight various creatures. But that doesn't do it for me. I want to experience the political intrigues and personalities that Master Tolkien created for our benefit. I want to feel the winds off the Misty Mountains and touch the grass of Rohan--even the sweaty smell of townsfolk as they pack into the Pony to hear the latest news.

Do any of you have ways of doing this?

I have read many of your wonderful stories--and I wouldn't mind writing one myself, but I would rather turn myself over to some Game Master who would allow me to explore what my will desires.

Have you tried any of the roleplay forums? I personally avoid them like the plague but you may enjoy them. (Those crazy folks are so darn long-winded!)

If you enjoy roleplay intermixed with poking putrid slugs into submission with a sharp pointy stick you may enjoy playing LOTR Online on the Landroval server with us. They haven't yet invented smellevision so I don't think you'll "enjoy" the smell of sweating horses in the stables or stale ale on the breath of a dwarf, but with a bit of imagination you might think that you can.

I have looked at the role playing forum. But it is all a bit overwhelming to me! I miss the days of role playing in person. I wish that some of the games on line (such as Warcraft) were more based on intregue and less on hack and slash. A thinking person's game... that would be nice. Also, something that doesn't consume all of your "free" time!!!

Yes, online games (MMORPGs) can be very time-consuming, and they're very addictive, too. I've been away from gaming for about five years or so, and hadn't planned to ever return, but after playing free in open beta the hook has been set and I've been reeled in. That being said, I will not let LOTRO consume all my free time. In fact, I haven't played since Sunday and won't play again until tomorrow (Thursday), so that's a good sign.

The thing I like about LOTRO is that it is very quest driven. At least in the early stages it's very easy to go from quest to quest without having to sit in one place and kill the same beasties over and over and over for the sake of advancing one's character as other games do.

I think, too, that the Landroval server will be a place where you can play, or roleplay, without even a concern about powering up your character. The Shire is a low level zone, you can hang there and roleply with folks. You can also make it to Bree without being a high level character. Other places, like Rivendell, will be more difficult to get to.

One draw back to online gaming is that it requires a powerful computer to handle the graphics. That was the one thing that was going to keep me from playing LOTRO. However, after playing I decided that by hook or crook (okay, maybe not crook) I was going to purchase a new PC.